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John Key - Source: ONE News -
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Prime Minister John Key is hoping that further movie production will be heading our way, and is having a private dinner with senior executives of Warner Brothers, the company behind the Harry Potter films, to ensure this happens.
The company received tax breaks and forced changes to employment law in return for making the Hobbit in New Zealand, and Key believes more film companies will follow.
Warner Brothers is hoping the Hobbit films, currently under production, will be a runaway success which could translate into a long term relationship with New Zealand.
Key appears to have tacked Los Angeles on to his trip to the United States for the sole purpose of having dinner with the movie executives.
The Prime Minister's office had earlier advised that attempts to arrange trade related activities fell over because of the absence of key players and significant road works.
Key said the dinner invitation came off the back of his meeting with Warner Bros executives last year.
"When they came down they [Warner Bros] said 'come to the States, come and see us, come and see all the things we are doing'.
"They are very keen to build a long-term relationship with us. They see us as a strategic partner and New Zealand as a quirky but talented little market that's quite cheap."
The Hobbit dispute was resolved after Warner Bros executives jetted into New Zealand for a meeting with Government ministers at Key's official Wellington residence, Premier House.
After two days of tense days of talks with Warner Bros bosses, who were chauffeured around Wellington in Crown limousines, the Government agreed to a raft of measures including a $20 million tax break to keep the two Hobbit movies in New Zealand.
An agreement to change New Zealand's employment laws clinched the deal after studio bosses and Director Sir Peter Jackson threatened to move production offshore over a stoush with the actors' union. Labour laws were amended last year.
Before leaving yesterday, Key told reporters the Government wanted to build a partnership with Warner Brothers "like they have with the United Kingdom, where they film the Harry Potter movies".
Tonight's meal appears to have avoided any sense of extravagance, with the relatively informal Culina Italian restaurant offering main dishes for about $30, according to one review.
Key will also meet Google and Facebook executives in San Francisco, before heading to Washington for a meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama, the main focus of the trip.
Ahead of that meeting, he will hold talks with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
While in Washington later in the week Key will stay in Blair House, the historic residence across the road from the White House where visiting world leaders are put up.
Key is usually accompanied by wife Bronagh but said she had decided not to come on this trip.
Their daughter Steffi was due back from a year-long trip to France and the family would get together for a holiday once he had wrapped up business in Washington.